PROJECT REPORT PARTS

1. Title Page
The name of the institution is written first followed by the title of the report, name of
the author and the purpose for which the report is submitted. The title of the report
should be brief (not more than 20 words) and it should accurately reflect the
content of the report. The title page of each volume of the report should contain the
following information:
1) The full title of the project, and the sub-title (if any);
2) The full name of the author (as recorded on his/her birth certificate)
with, if desired, any qualifications or distinctions;
3) The award for which the report is submitted to the Academic Institution;
4) The name of the Academic Institution;
5) The name(s) of the supervisor(s) of the project;
The title of the report should be meaningful and informative. Taken alone, the title
should give enough information so that the reader has a clear idea what to expect the
rest of the report to be about.
2. Approval Page

The name of the Institution, the Department and a statement by the writer is written.
A statement by the writer stating his name and the topic is required here. The names
of the project supervisor, the Head of Department and possibly the External Examiner
to sign the report with dates also appear here.
3. Dedication

The project report may be dedicated to anyone who has endeared himself or herself
to the writer. This could be to a friend, family member, or loved one whether living
or deceased who possibly has made an impact to the person in the process of
writing the report. Dedication can also be towards bringing awareness to certain
events or situations around the world. Dedication is however optional. You may wish
to dedicate your report. This is not obligatory.
Acknowledgements

This is the page in which the writer expresses appreciation for the assistance and
encouragement received from various individuals and organizations while working on
the project. They include those who made technical and financial contributions or
helped to influence the work positively. Acknowledgement of institutions and

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 individuals who made facilities available at any stage of the project gives the report
some credibility.

4. Abstract
The abstract is as an overview, synopsis or summary of the report. This is often written
last after the main body of the report is completed, as its purpose is to provide a
summary of the report’s essential information.
Abstract should contain the following elements:
* A statement of the engineering problem attempted to solve,
* An explanation of the approach or methodology to solving the problem,
* The main finding i.e. Results,
* The main conclusion,
* Applications of the findings, and
An abstract, or summary, not exceeding 300 words, single spacing, or one page in
length, should be bound as an integral part of the report, and should precede the main
text. The style of writing for this section is technical and concise, with economical use
of words. It should be written only when almost all section of the report have been
completed.
Students sometimes find it difficult to accept that a statement should be made in the
abstract, knowing that an identical or similar statement appears in the body of the
report. The summary should be regarded as an independent section which is
meaningful when read in isolation from the remainder of the report.
In writing the abstract, therefore, one should look at each completed section of the
report, extract key statements, and present them as concisely as possible.
It is important to include in the abstract any significant findings of the study or
experimentally determined value, the determination of which is a major feature of the
investigation. Comments should be made, wherever possible, to the significance of the
results.
5. Table of Contents

In the Table of Contents, the main headings and sub-headings and the page
numbers in which they begin are listed. Note that each chapter, section and
subsection must have a heading and such a heading must be written in the Table of
Contents exactly as it appears in the main body of the report.
6. List of Tables
The use of tables enables the writer to present the data in a logical and concise manner.

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 a) The table number and table title should be written bold at the top of the table.
The title must reflect the content of the table,
b) A table should be self-explanatory so that it can be read and understood
without referring to the text of the report,
c) Table should be on a separate page and it must be referred to in the text,
d) Table should be arranged to come close to where it is being referred to in the
text,
e) If a table is too big and the title has to be typed along the length of the page,
be sure to arrange the page in such a way that the top of the table is near the
bound end of the page (landscape orientation),
f) Tables may be numbered according to the chapter and sequence in which they
appear, i.e. Table 2.1, Table 3.3 etc. (Table 2.1 means Chapter 2 Table 1).
7. List of Figures
The figures in the report may include charts, graphs, drawings, photographs and
schematic diagrams. The use of figures makes the write-up clearer. Graphs should be
neatly and carefully drawn on graph paper or plotted with a computer, and axes must
be properly labelled and scaled.
Take note of the following points on figures:
a) The title of a figure and figure number should be written at the bottom of the figure.
The title must reflect accurately what is presented in the figure.
b) More than one figure could be on a page, but the figure should not be clumsy,
c) Each figure should appear as soon as possible after it is referred to in the text.
d) The figure could be drawn clearly and neatly using a pen. Avoid handwritten labels.
e) Placing photocopy of diagram is not allowed. However, the diagram may be traced
and the source acknowledged where the title is written.
f) If the figure is a graph, make sure that the axes are well labelled.
g) Figures are to be numbered using Arabic numerals. Number the figures according
to the chapter in which they appear and the sequence in each chapter i.e. figure
2.1, figure 3.2 etc.

8. Nomenclature
Nomenclature or notation is the list of all the symbols used in the report and their
meaning presented in a tabular form. Roman letters used as symbols may be listed
first, followed by Greek letters, the subscripts, superscripts, operators and
abbreviations.

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9. MAIN BODY OF THE REPORT
9.1. Introduction
Introduction is the first part of the main body of the report. The function of the
introduction is to describe the purpose and scope of the project. The body of the
report should be tied to the information given in the introduction. Generally, the
reader is first introduced to the overall topic, the methodology of approach to
solving the problem and then to the specific areas addressed in the report. A length
of about 1 to 2 pages of introduction should be sufficient except in few special
situations. The background to the project is presented with sufficient details to
enable the reader understand why the study was undertaken. Introduction should
be closed with a section on the objectives of the project, the constraints and
limitations to the project clearly stated.
The introduction should include a full but concise statement of:
a) The background to the investigation, briefly stating the reasons governing
the need for the investigation. This background should reflect the title of the
project.
b) The aims or objectives of the investigation. (The Conclusion section should
always refer back to the objectives you set out)
The introduction should have a flowing, natural, style of writing and should read like
a story.

9.2. Literature review

This may form part of the chapter on introduction or it may be a separate chapter.
It is expected that work done by others in the past that are relevant to the present
work be discussed briefly. This constitutes the foundation on which the intended
report is built on. The review of the literature summarizes and evaluates the previous
authors’ contribution to the present study. It states how literature has contributed to
the area of research and gives appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of previous
studies. It also informs the writer’s understanding of the research problem.

Teitelbaum [3] noted that while reviewing the work done by others, there are five
types of notes that can be taken. They are:
i. Quotation (use author’s exact words),
ii. Paraphrasing (use the authors’ idea in another words),
iii. Summarising (use author’s main points),

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 iv. Copying (use author’s figures, tables or charts), and
v. Personal reactions or comments on the work.

Direct quotation should be used sparingly in the write-up and it should be

brief, starting and ending with inverted commas (quotation marks). When

paraphrasing, the ideas are stated in the writer’s own words. This is an

alternative to direct quotation. Teitelbaum [3] has suggested that to ensure that

the writer uses his own words, he reads the portion of the text to be

paraphrased, close the book and then write down the idea in his own words.

A summary is the gist of the work being reviewed stated in the writer’s own

words. Personal reactions or comments may be an appraisal or otherwise of the

results or the methodology of obtaining the results. In writing the project

report, the advice of Tarpley [4] quoted below is worthy of note.

“Give credit for all ideas, research and information not original. If credit is not

assigned, this is known as plagiarism and it is unethical. Do not copy the exact words

from some source and then use them as your own.”

Give credit to the source of an idea by writing the number associated with that

source in the list of references in a square bracket or writing the author’s name

and year.

9.3. Results and Discussion

With diagrams, graphs, tables, charts etc., the results are presented by giving clear
explanations on the results obtained. The results are to be compared with what has
been in previous literatures highlighting conformity or deviation. The purpose of the
discussion of results is to communicate what was learned and how the results lead
to the conclusions. The results are discussed in terms of what they show about the

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results and what they mean in the context of the goal of the report. Explanation of
results should include comments on unexpected results and offering reasons or
hypothesis for such behaviour. The discussion forms the bridge between the original
observations and what they will ultimately mean to the reader. And finally a
statement on how the result findings can be applied in engineering or daily life is
discussed.

9.4. Conclusions
On the basis of the results obtained the conclusions are drawn. Conclusion is a
concise statement(s) of the results and their significance to the topic or knowledge.

9.5. Suggestions for further work

Suggestions for further work could be in areas that the writer wished could have
extended the work to if time permits. It is to guide future workers working on similar
topics who want to extend the study. Suggestions for further work are important to
those who must act on the report.

9.6. References
References must be provided in the report if someone else’s opinions, theories, data
or research findings were used. Failure to indicate the sources of the ideas
may suggest that the writer is wrongfully claiming another person’s ideas or words
to be his own. This is known as plagiarism an offence punishable in academic circle.
Referencing of sources is also encouraged because it strengthens a writer’s
argument and adds credibility to the write up. Referencing shows wide knowledge
in the subject matter and identifies the critical aspects of other research in a similar
area.
There are two different types of reference lists used in engineering:
• Alphabetical reference list according to author – used with the author-date
(Harvard) system,
• Numbered reference list in order of their appearance in the text – used with the
numerical system.
Whichever format is adopted there must be consistency. However, the numbered
reference system is adopted for project write-up. Examples of how to reference are
listed below from different publications.Any work which is not the student’s own
must be referenced, to avoid allegations of plagiarism. For the presentation of
references it is required that the UL Harvard style, as published by the Library &

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Information Services, be use – this is available at
http://www.ul.ie/~library/referencing/harvard.html for details. Examples, online
tutorials, and information on the use of Endnote are also provided.

9.7. Appendices
Appendices are used to give additional information which is not essential to the
reading of the report but may be required in order to continue with the work, or to
explain in great detail some aspect of the work carried out. As a rule items that are
readily available (e.g. journal and conference papers) are not included as an
appendix except where it is judged to be unusual and not readily available.

Appendices should be named alphabetically (Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.) and

numbered as outlined in Section 5. Examples of material that may be included in
Appendices:
• CAD Drawings submitted to Workshop (not the Assembly drawing as this should
be in main body of the report)
• Computer programs written
• Essential Spreadsheets
• Manufacturers Material Data
• Detailed calculations
• Tables of data